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Is Obamacare Stealing Your Benefits?

Written by: MainStreet08/06/13 - 4:21 PM EDT

By Michael P. Tremoglie

NEW YORK (MainStreet)--"Be careful what you wish for," goes the old saying. After all, you might just get it. Apparently, this choice advice was was forgotten by some major labor union leaders. These union bosses campaigned vigorously for President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be passed by Congress into law.

They did so despite warnings from those opposed to the ACA - commonly referred to as Obamacare - that the plan would be problematic. Nonetheless the chiefs of the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) and UNITE-HERE, a union representing textile workers, hotel and restaurant employees were adamantly in favor of it and inveighed against those who opposed it.

But that was then, and this is now. Now they are getting what they asked for, and buyer's remorse has set in - and in a major way. The three union presidents, James P. Hoffa of the Teamsters, UFCW's Joseph Hansen and Donald 'D' Taylor President of UNITE-HERE, sent a letter July 11 to the Democratic congressional leaders Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) imploring them and President Obama to "enact an equitable fix."

"When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them," the union bosses state. "Sadly, that promise is under threat...We have been strong supporters of the notion that all Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care. We have also been strong supporters of you. In campaign after campaign we have put boots on the ground, gone door-to-door to get out the vote, run phone banks and raised money to secure this vision. Now this vision has come back to haunt us."

The letter continues by citing the concerns they have voiced to the White House since the ACA was enacted - laments that were unheeded. Yet the union bosses are angered by the fact that businesses have been allowed to delay the deadline for the employer mandate and penalties.